In recent years, telecommunication devices have advanced from offering simple voice calling services within wireless communication networks to providing users with many new features, such as messaging services such as email, text messaging, and instant messaging. Thus, telecommunication devices, referred to herein as user devices or mobile devices, are often used in multiple contexts.
Enhanced 911, or E-911 (herein, “E911”), is a system used in North America to automatically provide dispatchers with the location of callers to 911 services—the universal emergency telephone number in the region. Generally, an incoming 911 call is answered at a local governmental public safety answering point (PSAP) by a specially trained official known as a telecommunicator. Special computer software uses information provided by the telephone company to display to the telecommunicator the physical address or geographic coordinates of the caller. The telecommunicator can then dispatch police, fire, medical, and other services as needed. Herein, a telecommunicator will be called an operator or human operator to distinguish this operator from a computing device.
Sometimes the system may automatically route a call to an entity other than a PSAP such as, for example, if the PSAP fails to respond (e.g., answer) to the call within a particular timeframe. Such a failure may be due to a large amount of traffic (e.g., calls) going to the PSAP or may be due to a technical failure in some portion of the system. An E911 call may be routed to a call center configured to handle a relatively large number of incoming calls. Such a call center may be located relatively far from the caller and the caller's nearest PSAP. Nevertheless, the call center may handle the call and perform functions that are required for an emergency associated with the call. Difficulties arise, however, if the call center also fails to respond to the call within a particular timeframe.